2012 IPA BEST OF THE PRESS EDITORIAL CONTEST CLASS 01 - GENERAL EXCELLENCE Division A First Place: Forest Park Review. Good blend of hard news and community- interest stories. Stories well-crafted and photos are solid and used to good effect. Stories showcase paper's role as government watchdog. Hard-hitting editorial showcases paper's role as community information hub. Press delivers solid reproduction. Ads inviting, especially the color ones. Second Place: Elburn Herald, March 1, March 22 editions. Chock full of news and information of all kinds. Stories tackle tough issues/topics. Photos big and bold. Vibrant editorial and op-ed pages including lots of letters to the editor. Solid reproduction. Eye-catching ads. Third Place: Woodford County Journal, Eureka. Solid weekly newspaper all around. Inclusion of student paper signals strength of community engagement. Sports photos really jump off page. Top-notch print reproduction helps make good use of color ads. Honorable Mention: Suburban News Bulletin, Geneva, Brandon Bressner, publisher. Hard to believe it's a free paper. Editorial and op-ed pages really stand out making it a true marketplace of ideas. Black tones run dark and display ads are few. Overall quality very good. Division B First Place: Riverside-Brookfield Landmark, Bob Uphues. March 21; Oct. 24. Excellent job. You are not afraid of presenting hard news in a straightforward manner. Excellent news judgment on important stories that affect a lot of people. Great breadth of news and features. Useful features laid out nicely. Second Place: The Galena Gazette. Good, fun overall product. Many points of entry for readers. Very good columns; lots of people-oriented features and catch- alls. Great art on the Mississippi River coverage. You promote fun activities; a great service to readers. Varied and comprehensive selection of ads. Love the docket packaging Good covers and lots of local content. Third Place: Ledger-Sentinel, Oswego. Good news stories. Good political coverage and serious treatment of important issues. Nice covers. Attention to detail. Big, big sections dedicated to news and advertising. Nice double truck on school construction. Honorable Mention: The Leader-Union, Vandalia. March 22, Dec 20. Significant news stories and a worthy contender to the other winners in this category. Supplements were well done and informative. Division C First Place: The Doings - La Grange. Good mix of local news and features, particularly the feature on the 50-year-old training for Boston Marathon. Local columns fresh and good reads. Ad placement is good, headlines crisp, photos lively. We imagine a reader would spend a long time with this paper. Could use even more sports coverage. Second Place: Jersey County Journal, Jerseyville, Staff. Paper excels in covering topics of local interest. Loved the A1 placement of the historic bell story. Editorials concise and punchy. Found lots of names and faces throughout. Liked promo of community events and sports guide was well designed. Third Place: Wednesday Journal of Oak Park & River Forest. March 21 and December 5 issues. Editorial content on target. Enjoyed Dan Haley's columns and Ken Trainor's piece on Mike Royko. Division D First Place: Daily Chronicle, DeKalb. Strong coverage of murder trial; compelling package of news, reaction and commentary. Impressive writing by Caitlin Mullen. Good mix of local and wire news. We were happy to see a local editorial in both issues. Sports photography is superb. Nicely designed. We liked the three-quarter page of weather in color, and we thought the treatment of the martini glass on the Food page was well done. Second Place: The Register-Mail, Galesburg. Most attractive paper of the bunch. We liked the A1 design. Glad to see all-local content on cover. Use of promo rails throughout is excellent. Drug forfeiture story was a good read. Would have liked to have seen more local content inside the sections. Third Place: Journal Gazette & Times-Courier, Mattoon. Photography is excellent, particularly A1. Good mix of local news and features in all sections. Liked the use of art promo in the over-line on A1. Articles "Campus connection" and "Doughty steps down" particularly well written. Honorable Mention: Pekin Daily Times. April 27th & March 23rd. Strong emphasis on playing local news prominently on cover. Photo coverage of school bus accident was particularly compelling. Picture page on back was a good idea. Good use of color throughout. Division E First Place: The Southern Illinoisan, Carbondale. March 1 March 18. Excellent coverage of Harrisburg tornado, good A1 layout, content-heavy local news section. The strongest paper in the group in all categories. Second Place: Quincy Herald-Whig. Strong layout, good headlines; nice tie-in to online content. Ella story was long but displayed well. Third Place: Sauk Valley Media, Sterling. Good package on Dixon in Sunday paper. Overall, good local coverage. Honorable Mention: The News-Gazette, Champaign. Friday, March 23, 2012; Sunday, May 13, 2012. Makes good use of A1 for in-depth local stories. Division F First Place: Chicago Tribune. Has the heft and breadth of a world-class newspaper. Loaded with rich, staff-produced content. Elegantly designed. Second Place: The Rock Island Argus. March 21 and June 10 editions. Sharp looking product filled with lots of good, local content. Third Place: The Pantagraph, Bloomington. March 21, 2012 and May 20, 2012. Heavy, local coverage. Impressive next-day turn-around on election results. Staff-produced content in all sections. Honorable Mention: Chicago Sun-Times. Smart tabloid with plenty of good reading on local news. CLASS 02 - COMMUNITY SERVICE Division A First Place: Woodford County Journal, Eureka, Jerry McDowell. IYS. This series of stories gets at the heart of the issue and brings it home. The first story impresses readers with its frank admission that journalists are often afraid to write about suicide because of the fear of copy-cat. The checklist with warning signs is very useful; it's the kind of list many will want to clip for future reference. Second Place: Woodford County Journal, Eureka, Jerry McDowell. Synthetic Drugs. Very good information for readers. Pairing the news stories with photos and with the editorial makes it clear that this is a real problem. Some additional context about synthetic drug stats in the state and nation would have been useful. Third Place: The Woodstock Independent, Staff. Woodstock Cares/Breast cancer awareness. Nicely done package. The interviews with breast cancer survivors bring the story home. The community's commitment to this project is very impressive. Good info, too, on the amount of money raised in the course of time. The story of the mother and two daughters with breast cancer surely helped to encourage donors to give to a worthy cause. Nice use of graphics, too. Honorable Mention: Peoria County News Bulletin, Peoria, Wes Schmidgall. Crittenton Centers Providing ID Cards for Children. Good job in addressing a fear that many parents have about what would happen if a child went missing. Some additional sourcing would have been useful about the number of missing children statewide every year and the cause -- are they stranger abductions or family custody cases? Division B First Place: The Galena Gazette, Hillary Dickerson. Honor Flight. Very good project. Shows readers what Honor Flight means to the community and offers ways for readers to get involved by helping vets to take part and to donate to support the program. Second Place: The Galena Gazette, P. Carter Newton. Getting to Yes. Really interesting look at a concept/technique that could be used in many communities. Good job in interviewing participants, in reporting on the writer's experience with the program and in using editorials to support the program, too. Third Place: The Journal-News, Hillsboro. The Journal-News Pink Pages. Good job in using real people to tell the story of how breast cancer affects individuals and families. Finding survivors who have gone through treatment in different eras adds context. Breaking out info on the support groups would be useful for readers to scan and clip. Honorable Mention: Macoupin County Enquirer-Democrat, Carlinville. Shop Local First. There's no doubt about it -- this newspaper has come up with a promotion that its readers should support. Some coverage verges on advertorial instead of journalism, but nevertheless, there is good context from experts on why small businesses, so bandied about by politicians, really rely on local consumers. Division D First Place: Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. NATO Summit in Chicago Coverage. Thorough coverage with great use of social media and specialized reporting. Entire package really places the reader at the scene and helps the audience to understand what's at stake in terms of world issues, the city of Chicago, activists and law professionals. The results show that there was a well-crafted plan put into place to cover every possible angel as stories developed -- in advance and during the actual meetings. Second Place: The Register-Mail, Galesburg, Jay Redfern. Best Customer Service in Galesburg. “Clever concept is carried out with genuine heart. The overwhelming response to Jay's question made this judge want to visit Galesburg (and to suggest we try the same thing at our newspaper). Great way to use social media and connect with your readers. Featuring the McDonald's window worker in the first installment was a very good idea to put a real face on a fan favorite." Third Place: Times-Republic, Watseka, Carla Waters. The Workplace. Good concept; stories could have been a bit more varied, though, in terms of workplaces being profiled. Honorable Mention: Breeze-Courier, Taylorville. Dolph Stanley. Extensive coverage for a big event for this community. The ongoing coverage needed to also report on what the revamped basketball facilities would mean going forward, instead of just looking back.